Sorry, Northeast. But those are phrases you'll be using a lot Friday amid a monster storm.

And not just the Northeast, forecasters said. About one-third of the nation - approximately 100 million people in 22 states - is in the path this storm.

But the Northeast will be hardest-hit, the National Weather Service said.

"Heaviest snow will fall from central New York to the Massachusetts coast. Blizzard conditions are possible for eastern Long Island and the Massachusetts coast. Bitter cold will move into the Midwest and East following the storm," the Weather Service said.

The storm was expected to be at its fiercest between 8 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Friday, according to CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen.

"Falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibilities are likely," the Weather Service said. "This will lead to whiteout conditions making travel extremely dangerous. Do not travel."

Across the country, the nasty weather has snarled travel plans for many.

More than 2,200 U.S. flights had been canceled as of late Thursday night, reported FlightAware.com, which tracks cancellations due to weather and mechanical problems. It's not like things will suddenly clear up: the same website reports that some 1,300 flights already have been canceled in advance for Friday.

Thursday's most affected airport was Chicago's O'Hare, with more than 650 cancellations in and out and about the same number of delays. Newark's Liberty International Airport, New York's LaGuardia and Cleveland's Hopkins were also affected.

Is Friday the beginning of the end for Toronto's troubled Mayor Rob Ford?

Not so, if you ask Ford. But a growing contingent in Toronto's City Council seem to think it's time for him to go.

The council is scheduled to meet Friday to begin mapping out a plan to usurp much of Ford's power. Despite admitting last week that he had smoked crack cocaine in a "drunken stupor" about a year ago, Ford has defiantly said he will not leave his job.

But while fighting for his job Thursday, Ford added to his growing list of missteps.

Early in the day, a scrum of reporters approached Ford to ask him about new allegations of drunkenness, drug use and the verbal and physical abuse of aides.

In the course of answering, he denied a female staffer's allegation that he sought to perform oral sex with graphic language of his own, stunning reporters.

Later in the day, he backtracked.

With his wife at his side, he went back before reporters to say he had been under "tremendous, tremendous stress" and was getting unspecified support from "a team of health care professionals." But he called the latest allegations "100% lies."

"When you attack my integrity as a father and as a husband, I see red. Today I acted on complete impulse in my remarks," Ford said. He took no questions from reporters, who shouted sharp inquiries at him as he entered the office.

"Mayor Ford, why should we believe you? Why would you subject your family to this?" one asked.

Investigators searched for clues at the woman's Stamford, Connecticut, home into the evening, law enforcement sources said. Police and bomb squad units surrounded an apartment complex there. But authorities gave little official word on what was found.